


Love Is In The Air

by JjdoggieS



Series: Endless Celebrations [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben Hargreeves Doesn't Die, Children, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Number Five | The Boy never left, Slice of Life, Teen Pregnancy, Teenage Parents, Time Skips, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: Valentine's Day over the year with Five, Ben, and Vanya's ever expanding family.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Original Character(s), Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves/Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Number Six | Ben Hargreeves & Original Character(s), Vanya Hargreeves & Original Character(s)
Series: Endless Celebrations [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086560
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. 2005

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xxbunnykissesxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxbunnykissesxx/gifts).



The double lines on the plastic stick before Vanya, held between three shaking fingers mocked her. What she’d hoped, and prayed, was just two missed, inconsistent periods were flushed down the toilet by the positive test in front of her. She’d asked Mom during one of her breaks between solo classes, the Umbrella Academy was currently on an international mission in Paris, fighting the Eiffel Tower, if she could go get some  _ lady products _ from the drugstore that wasn’t too far from the Academy. Vanya just didn’t specify  _ what _ products she was getting.

Vanya had only gotten the pregnancy test to reassure herself. She was  _ barely _ fifteen, well, almost fifteen and a half by now, but still, she was  _ way _ too young to be pregnant. She was too young to be a mom. Five and Ben were too young to be dads. She didn’t even know if they’d ever  _ wanted _ to be dads. And maybe  _ that’s why _ the positive result from the test felt like it  _ hurt _ more than  _ helped _ her.

She  _ couldn’t _ be pregnant. 

She just couldn’t.

Father was going to kill her, ‘take care of’ their baby and ship her off to some remote small town that none of them would’ve heard of, and she’d never see Five or Ben ever again. And that felt like a fate worse than death. She couldn’t go back to being isolated from everyone ever again.

This left her with two choices. To run away, with or without Five and Ben, or find a way to  _ not _ be pregnant anymore, without anyone (beyond herself, Five, and Ben) else finding out she’d ever been pregnant.

Vanya  _ knew _ she shouldn’t be making such a rash decision without talking to Five and Ben first. She was pregnant with  _ their _ child too. The more she thought about it the more stressed and sick she felt about the whole situation. Vanya, in a half-lie, told Mom that she wasn’t feeling well (which was true) and asked if she could lie down for a while. Mom looked for any physical ailments but claimed to not find anything, other than the paleness that had coated Vanya’s face, but regardless Mom let Vanya lock herself into her room for a few hours. 

She could  _ only _ feel her heart pounding in her ears, it had started when Mom rested one of her hands on Vanya’s stomach for a brief moment, paused, then said nothing about it, just sending her off to her room. Reminding Vanya that her siblings would be back later that evening as well as telling her that she’d bring up some light dinner in a few hours if she was still feeling unwell.

Once her door clicked shut behind her, and again when Vanya locked it, she immediately pulled the suitcase that was typically always empty and stowed away under her bed out and dropped it onto her bed. Whatever decision that she, Five, and Ben made about  _ the baby _ she’d likely be gone for a while and needed to be prepared for it. Maybe she was acting a bit irrational and erratic, but she was extraordinarily stressed at the moment and had no one she could really talk to that she knew wouldn’t make its way back to Father. Vanya carefully placed the positive test, which was wrapped in a few layers of toilet paper (it was all she had in the midst of her freak out in the bathroom) into the middle of the packed extra clothes (which was only Academy uniforms and the few articles of clothing that Five and Ben had gotten over the past few years that they’d given her) and a few other miscellaneous things she had in her room. Which, wasn’t much.

Vanya slid the now packed suitcase back under her bed, in nearly the exact same spot it had been sitting in for years, and then crawled into her bed. As she’d had roughly an hour or so since she’d gotten her positive test results, any and all energy she had, which was always limited as is these days and felt exhaustion hanging heavily on her petite frame. Soon after Vanya slipped under her comforter, she fell asleep. 

And was shaken awake again several hours later, with two figures standing at her bedside. It was quite dark in her room, it had still been about mid-afternoon when she’d crawled in bed, and now it was definitely  _ not _ mid-afternoon. 

“Vanya?” Five asked, sounding like he was the closer of the two figures, Vanya really couldn’t see anything in the dark. “Are you okay?”

To which Vanya quickly replied, “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She couldn’t let anyone know. No wait, she  _ could _ tell them. She  _ needed _ to tell them.

“Well Mom said you weren’t feeling well while we were gone,” the second figure, Ben, explained, “and when you didn’t come down for dinner, Five and I came to check on you.”

She knew it would be better to tell them sooner rather than later, and they’d need to make a decision quickly. Since Vanya had no clue  _ how long _ she’d been pregnant for, anywhere from three months ago to less than a month, they had a shortish time frame if they went a  _ certain _ route. “Can one of you turn on a light?” Vanya asked, a second later her lamp on her nightstand flickered on, illuminating Five’s face and then Ben’s. She temporarily ignored Five and Ben’s questions in favor of sliding off her bed and reaching underneath it for the suitcase.

Vanya continued to ignore Five and Ben as she could see them exchanging looks between each other as she dropped the, kind of heavy, suitcase back onto her bed. “Vanya, what’s going on?” Ben asked, “Talk to us, please.”

She unlatched the two straps on her suitcase, pulling it open. Vanya dug around for a few seconds between the clothes to find the little bundle of toilet paper wrapped plastic stick, handing it to Five without a word. As Five asked, “Vanya? What’s-”

Vanya told him to, “Just open it.” as she took a seat back on her bed.

Doing as instructed, Five unraveled the paper from the plastic stick, and as soon as both he and Ben recognized what it was, as well as read what it was telling them, while Ben was obviously concerned and was  _ trying _ to ask some questions, Five asked, “How long have you known?” They’d been gone for about a week and a half, and had only just gotten back.

“I only found out earlier today.” Vanya answered.

“Does anyone else know?” Ben asked.

In a  _ possible _ lie, to be fair Vanya didn’t know for sure one way or another, but regardless she answered, “I don’t think so. No.” She waited a beat before adding, “What do we do now? There’s no way that Father is going to-”

“Forget about him.” Five hissed, then realized what he’d done, paused, recollected himself, and continued, “I’m sorry, but you need to stop caring what he  _ thinks _ Vanya. What do you want to do?”

Vanya answered with, “I, I don’t know.”

“You  _ do know _ Vanya,” Ben countered, taking a seat on her bed next to her, sliding the suitcase further down the bed, “you’re allowed to have thought and opinions on things with us, and  _ especially _ when it’s about you.”

“I just,” Vanya started, “I don’t want to mess up things for you guys and your lives and everything over something like this.”

Five, quite knowingly, which was common for him, guessed, “You want to keep the baby don’t you?”

All Vanya could muster was a short nod before no longer being able to hold back the tears that had welled up quickly. Ben’s thumb wiped away a few of the tears that spilled over as he comforted her, “Everything’s going to be okay Vanya, you  _ know _ that Five and I wouldn’t let anything happen; to you or to the baby that you don’t want to happen. Alright?” getting a small nod from her, before moving his gaze from Vanya to Five and asking, “What do we do Five?”

“We need to leave.” Five answered a few seconds later.

“Right now?” Vanya asked as Ben also asked, “Are you sure about this Five?

To which Five replied, “No, not right now. I- _ we _ need time to get things together and we’re leaving tomorrow night. Don’t say anything. Act normal.” Five took a pause, switching from his more typical logistical and analytical demeanor to the more caring and softer approach he had with Ben and Vanya, as he added, “Everything is going to be fine. We’ll just, stick together and figure out what we’re going to do  _ after _ we get out of the Academy. We’re going to leave, we’ll find a house or an apartment, get jobs, and keep under the radar.”

“It’s that easy?” Vanya asked.

“That easy.” Five answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2005
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 15


	2. 2009

“Dadda!” Freya was pulling on Five’s pant leg, her face wiping snot and tears and some drool into the fabric. Five _had_ tried to pick up his daughter several times, but was only met with louder crying and little baby hands batting his away. “Dadda home!”

With Freya crying into his leg, wrapped around his ankle, Nova nearly asleep already in his lap, Alex _already_ asleep in Ben’s beside him, Five figured it was about time they go home. “Hey Ben,” Five started, lolling his head a bit to look around Nova’s head, “you ready-”

“Ready to go?” Ben guessed, before answering his own question “Absolutely. I’ll go get Oliver.” Without another word, or waiting for any response from Five, Ben scooped Alex up, their daughter still sleeping as she was moved around, before he went of wadding through toddlers and parents to find their child.

As Ben, and Alex, were looking for Oliver, Five started buckling Nova into one of the seats of their double strollers, then buckling Freya into the other seat. (Despite her kicking at him as he did.) Just as Five had finished buckling and then attempting to calm down Freya, Oliver ran over to them, Ben still carrying a sleeping Alex following behind him. “Hi Daddy. Hi Alex. Hi Freya.” Oliver said, not caring too much that neither Alex or Freya acknowledge him, for _different_ reasons.

“Hi baby,” Five said pressing a kiss to the top of Oliver’s head _which_ lead to Oliver pressing one to Five’s cheek, before he asked him, “are you ready to go see Momma, and Reesie, and Cordelia?” To which Oliver quickly began nodding and was about to take off towards the front door of The Learning Tree (the play place they’d taken their kids to) if it hadn’t been for Ben grabbing his arm before he could.

“Where do you think you’re going Ollie?” Ben asked.

Which Oliver answered with “Going home. To Momma. And Ressie. And Cordelia.”

“You need to stick with Papa and I Ollie.” Five said, kicking the diaper bag that was sticking out of the bottom of his stroller back underneath it.

Oliver sighed loudly, especially for a three year old, causing Five to wonder when their son had gotten so dramatic, before he said, “Okay.”

Five and Ben exchanged quick bemused looks before Ben asked, “Do you want to get in the stroller with Alex, Oliver?”

“No!” Oliver shrieked, “I’m not a baby. I’m a big boy.”

“Alright Mr. Oliver,” Ben started, “even though you know that Momma likes you to be in the stroller, you can walk with me and Daddy as long as you hold one of our hands the whole time from here to the car. Deal?” As Ben asked ‘Deal?’ he reached one of his hands out for Oliver to grab, _which_ the three year old did gleefully. Once Oliver took a hold of Ben’s hand, he started swinging their arms back and forth as Five lead them back towards their minivan. By the time they _had_ reached their minivan, Alex, Nova, and Freya had fallen asleep in their strollers while Oliver had been quite tired from the short walk, but had still refused to get into the stroller.

When the car turned on, Five noted that it was barely past 5 o’clock _but_ it was near enough to their typical dinnertime that it would be one of their stops on their way home. Their first stop, while three of their four kids were still sleeping was picking up pizza for dinner. It was also their only assigned stop by their wife.

Once they’d gotten their first stop taken care of, two large pizzas sitting in the trunk of the van, Five pulled into the Walmart parking lot that was on their way home, causing Ben to ask him what he was doing and Alex, who must’ve woken up at some point, asked where they were going. “We,” Five started, “are going to get some Valentine’s Day presents.”

“Can we get candy?” Alex immediately asked, perking up and the prospect of getting some sugary sweets.

“I think we can get _a little_ bit of candy.” Five answered while Ben looked like he wanted to hit Five, which _was_ fair. Five took Oliver and Alex, the only kids awake, into the store with him while Ben stayed in the van with Freya and Nova as they slept. Once in the store, Five put Alex and Oliver into one of the carts and pushed them towards the seasonal section that was entirely pink, reds, and white. Once Five lifted Alex and Oliver from the cart he told them, “I have a super special job for you two.”

“What is it Daddy?” Oliver asked excitedly while Alex was practically jumping next to him, looking just as excited. Although, that might be from the candy she knew they were going to be getting while they were at the store.

“I need you two to pick out six toys each from this area and put them in our cart,” Five started, “do you think you can do that?” Both Oliver and Alex excitedly nodded at the ‘job’ Five was giving them to do before they tore off towards the bins of Valentine’s Day toys. While Oliver and Alex looked through the toys, bringing one or two back to the cart every few minutes (which _definitely_ was more than twelve toys total by the end), Five kept an eye on them while he put a variety of candies into the cart as well as some things for Vanya and Ben.

When Oliver and Alex returned with yet another toy each to add to their pile, Five told them they were all done and were going to go get one more thing before they were ready to head home. Pushing the slightly heavier cart with his two kids hanging off the sides into the floral section of the store. Five had Oliver and Alex both pick out smaller bouquets of whatever flowers they wanted while Five picked out a pair of rose bouquets. Once Oliver returned with his bundle of rainbow colored daisies and Alex returned with a bouquet of wildflowers, several strands of lilac and peony sticking out the top, the three of them made their way up to the registers. 

And while typically, Five would just go to one of the self-check out lanes, with the amount of items he was getting, as well as trying to keep a three year old and a one year old from running off or wreaking havoc on a Saturday afternoon, this time he pushed their cart into lane 18 and deposited their pile of toys, stuffed animals, candy, and flowers onto the belt. As the teenager behind the register started scanning their items (Five says as if _he_ wasn’t still a teenager), Five picked up and sat Oliver and Alex into the basket of the cart, keeping them from running around and away while he was distracted. A short seven minute or so wait later, he had six full paper bags (one of which was just candy and the other five were just toys) and three wrapped bouquets ready to go and started off again back towards their van again.

Less than four years ago, Five never would’ve pictured himself _in_ a kiddy play place like this, much less be taking four of his kids with Ben, his husband, _to_ one of these places _on_ Valentine’s Day while their wife, Vanya, was back at home with their other two kids. But now, after about 2.5 hours of watching over and playing with their one three year old and three one year olds, all four of their kids were _quite_ tired and in need of a nap. (Most of them already taking one.)

But now, shortly after loading their kids into their car seats, driving home (with a _few_ pit stops) from The Learning Tree, as he drove five of the eight most important people in his life, Five couldn’t picture his life going any other way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2009
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 19  
> Oliver - 3  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 1  
> Reese & Cordelia - 4 Months


	3. 2013

While it may have been _easy_ for most parents to find someone to babysit their kids for Valentine’s Day, or even just for an evening, but the Hargreeves, (Five, Ben, and Vanya) didn’t have so much luck. There were few people who were _willing_ to babysit their kids, and even fewer who’d be willing to do it single handedly; and of the slim group of people _willing_ to watch their kids, all of them had been already been called and had other plans. _Which_ is what precisely lead to Five, Ben, and Vanya watching The Lorax, Brave, and Hotel Transylvania with Oliver, Alex, Nova, Freya, Reese, Cordelia, and Violet for Valentine’s Day; while Tate and Liam were crawling and playing on the living room floor.

A few years prior, Five, Ben, and Vanya were more able to get someone to babysit for an evening (or even a weekend) while they’d go on a date. That was also about five kids ago, after they’d had Freya, Nova, and Alex. But now, especially when they had nine kids _not_ four, it was _a bit_ harder to find anyone willing to watch nine kids from age seven to eight months old.

This year, rather than worry about getting a babysitter, or two, for their kids for an evening, they’d instead decided to stay in this year and (with some _helpful_ input from their kids) decided on having pizza and cheesy bread for dinner (no fruits or vegetables required today), with _quite_ a bit of candy, and watch movies. Ben had allocated the movie selection to Oliver, Alex, Nova, and Freya, as the oldest four they were typically given more responsibilities as well as more choices and more of a say in group and family decisions than their younger siblings did. With giving the movie selections over to Oliver, Alex, Nova, and Freya, their one ground rule was that they had to be rated PG, or G.

Oliver had been the one to pick The Lorax, while Alex and Nova had picked Hotel Transylvania, and Freya had picked Brave. After they’d picked their movies the day before Valentine’s Day, Wednesday night, after dinner they had their kids vote on which order they wanted to watch the movies. Their vote ended up being five for Hotel Transylvania, four for Brave, and three for The Lorax.

Since Valentine’s Day _did_ fall on a school day, Vanya had quite a bit of difficulty keeping Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex focused during their designated ‘school’ time for their homeschooling. While typically kids Reese, Cordelia, and Violet’s ages would be in a preschool or at daycare most days, their kids weren’t enrolled in any preschools or daycares. But their parents, namely Vanya, were worried about their _father,_ Reginald, from somehow tracking them down from their kids’, whose last names were also Hargreeves, information from being enrolled in _any_ school. Public, private, or anything else that _wasn’t_ homeschool. Vanya, when planning what they were going to be doing that day for a 2nd grader (Oliver) or kindergarteners (Alex, Freya, and Nova), she’d accounted for them being _somewhat_ distracted. But not for them to get honestly nothing done the whole time.

Vanya had given up trying to get _anything_ educational done on Valentine’s day by the time it rolled into lunchtime. She’d been mid-clean up when Ben had gotten home from his half-day of work at the pediatrics office he was working at. When he had gotten home, as expected, he’d gotten the _supplies_ that she’d told him to get from the grocery store and had enlisted Oliver, Freya, Alex, Nova, Reese, and Cordelia’s help in bringing the grocery bags into the house.

What _hadn’t_ been expected, was Five _also_ getting home early from his classes at Fortuna Tech, where he was _the_ youngest professor in the college’s history, which only meant that he absolutely canceled his afternoon classes just to leave early. Which was _very_ Five. So, when Five had unexpectedly walked through the garage door, before Vanya _or_ Ben could say anything, Nova asked, “What are you doing here Daddy?”

“Are you not happy to see me Nova?” Five asked teasingly, “Because I could just come back later.”

While Nova was vehemently telling Five that she _was_ happy that he was home, peppering kisses to the sides of his face, Vanya asked him, “Don’t you have classes to teach this afternoon?”

There was a beat of quiet (because it never got silent in their house) before Five muttered, “ _No_.”

“ _Five_.”

“Okay I _did_ but,” Five started, purposefully avoiding looking at Vanya _or_ Ben when they were giving him varying disappointed, and slightly annoyed, looks, “it’s not like any of them pay attention anyway. But _especially_ today, there were _barely_ half of the regulars there for the first class, and just less and less throughout the day.”

“You canceled classes, because of _attendance_ and not anything else?” Ben asked.

And either Five was obtusely oblivious to the sarcasm in Ben’s voice _or_ he was pointedly ignoring it as he replied, “Exactly! Just that. That was the only reason.”

Which was quickly questioned by Violet, rather condescendingly for a two year old, saying, “Tell the truth Daddy. Lying is bad.”

“ _Busted_.” Alex teased.

A long-winded and _very_ unconvincing attempt at excusing his poor behavior given by Five and about three hours later, there was ten bodies and a dog sprawled and curled into the couch (Tate and Liam crawling around on the floor, sometimes playing with Mr. Pennycrumb when he hopped off the couch) watching as Merida accidentally turned not only her mother but her three younger brothers as well into bears after making a deal with a _possibly_ evil witch. While the ‘scary bear scenes’ were on their tv, Nova and Reese, who’d been on opposite sides of Five, hid their faces into his sides, wanting their dad to protect them from the bears. (Even if they weren’t real bears, Five would do anything and everything he could to protect his kids from anything that posed a danger to them.)

Five knew that it was only a matter of time, in what would feel like the blink of an eye, before his little girls, or any of his kids, wouldn’t be wanting to cuddle with him, be little koalas on his legs as he walked around the house after getting home from work, or be curling into him for protection from scary animated bears in Disney movies. And _because_ Five knew that that day would come, hopefully not anytime soon, he was absolutely holding his daughters curling into him, hiding from the bears, a little tighter than he typically did.

He _knew_ that one day these little memories and fleeting time he had with them would be gone, so Five was going to enjoy every second he could with all ten of his kids while he still could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2013
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 23  
> Oliver - 7  
> Freya, Nova, & Alex - 5  
> Reese & Cordelia - 4  
> Violet - 2  
> Tate & Liam - 8 months


	4. 2017

There was one point that Diego needed to make  _ crystal clear  _ and it was that he did  _ not _ sign up for or agree to be spending  _ his _ Valentine’s Day, with his  _ brother _ Klaus, at their brothers and sister’s house-farm thing, babysitting their twelve mini goblins, and the dog. It was  _ not _ what Diego had ever thought he’d be doing when he was only twenty seven. He was in the prime of his life, and here he was, playing horsey with eight year olds and having tea parties with two year olds. 

“Hey Uncle Diego.” Alex said, sliding into the space next to him, sitting criss-cross at the tea party table on the floor, “What are you doing?”

Diego placed the empty, pink, plastic princess teacup and saucer that Jordan had given him, or was it Ariadne, as he answered Alex, “Having a tea party with your sister.”

Alex shot him a confused look, as she asked, “Which one?”

“Which one?” Diego repeated, “Can’t you tell them apart? You live with them.”

Unsurprisingly, Alex laughed at his response, or maybe it was at him, before she told him, “No! Of course I can tell them apart. I was asking you who you were having a tea party with, because Freya and Nova are outside, Reese and Cordelia are upstairs, Violet’s playing with Uncle Klaus in the kitchen, and Ariadne and Jordan are napping.”

“What?” Diego immediately questioned, “Then who was-”

“Anyway,” Alex interrupted, ignoring the look Diego was giving her, “what’s the deal with you and Uncle Klaus?”

Diego pushed himself from the ground, his legs feeling a bit like jelly. How long had he been sitting there? Before he addressed Alex, “Firstly, that’s none of your business miss. Secondly, I’m still trying to figure out which of your sisters wanted to have a tea party and then ditched me. And thirdly, I’ve told you about interrupting me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Alex replied flippantly, not really listening to Diego, “But, if you  _ do _ tell me, then I won’t tell Mom and Dad and Papa that you can’t tell their kids apart.”

“That won’t upset them.” Diego replied. It absolutely would. Diego had made a comment a few months ago about Nova  _ possibly _ needing glasses, and Five just about tackled him then and there for insinuating his kids were anything but perfect.

Alex gave him a rather mischievous look before she retorted, “Are you sure about that? Because if  _ I _ recall-”

“Alright, alright, alright.” Diego quickly said, cutting Alex off, no wonder she was always doing it to him, “You’ve made your point Alex. What’s your fascination about Uncle Klaus and I’s relationship anyway?”

Rather than getting any kind of  _ helpful _ answer from Alex, she merely shrugged and said, “I can just go ask Uncle Klaus if you’re gonna play 50 questions Uncle Diego.” before starting to walk off.

But before she could walk more than a few steps away from Diego before he grabbed her shoulder and said, “Wait, wait, what do you want to know? And don’t ask Uncle Klaus, he makes stuff up all the time. And isn’t exactly PG, a lot of the time.”

“What does that mean?” Alex asked.

“Nothing!” Diego answered, “Where’d all your questions go Alex? Come on, fire away kiddo.”

Alex was well enough distracted by Diego’s offer that she immediately jumped into asking her own questions rather than wonder about what he’d just said about her Uncle Klaus. “Do you think that you and Uncle Diego are gonna get married? Are you guys even dating? Don’t you guys love each other? Uncle Klaus said you were dating some Patch lady, are you still dating her? Does she even like you? How are we related? Who’s your favorite niece? Or nephew? It’s me right? Don’t say it’s David. Or Ariadne. Or Jordan. They’re  _ always _ everyone’s favorites just because they’re the littlest ones.”

It wasn’t until Alex paused to take a breath in between the rapid fire questioning that Diego could even  _ try _ answering any of her many questions. “Okay, pick three questions, and I’ll answer those Alex.” Diego said, because otherwise they’d be there all day.

“Seven.” Alex bargained. 

“Four.” Diego conutered.

Alex then offered, “How about six?”

“Five.”

“Deal!”

“Why do I feel like I just got played by a seven year old?” Diego asked.

Alex laughed and answered, “Because you did!” before adding “And I’m nine, not seven.”

“Same difference.” Diego chided, and at Alex’s quirked eyebrow, he amended, “Nevermind, questions kid, go.”

“Okay! Um, are you still dating that Patch lady?” Alex asked.

Diego shook his head as he answered, “No, we broke up a few weeks ago. That’s one.”

“That’s sad.” Alex replied, before immediately asking, “Are you and Uncle Klaus gonna date?”

“Two.” Diego answered, “And I don’t think so kiddo.”

Alex didn’t seem to believe him, and asked, “Well, why not?” then quickly added, “I know, I know, that’s three Uncle Diego. I know how to count thank you very much.”

“Aren’t you feisty?” Diego teased.

To which he only got a scowl from Alex in return as she muttered for him to, “Just answer the question.”

“Alright, alright, settle down hot pants.” Diego teased before answering, “The truth is kiddo, I don’t really know. I don’t  _ think _ your Uncle Klaus and I will be dating or anything, at least not anytime soon. And besides, I’m not too sure Uncle Klaus should be in a long term relationship right now, or anytime soon anyway.” 

“Hmm, okay.” Alex murmured, “Alright Uncle Diego, last question, who is your favorite niece or nephew?”

Pulling out some of the theatrics he’d gotten from being around Klaus, Allison, and Five, Ben, and Vanya’s baby monsters long enough, Diego dramatically sighed, humming and hmming to himself, stroking his chin in thought while pointedly avoiding looking in Alex’s direction. After roughly a minute of ‘thinking’ about his response, long enough for Alex to be squirming in fron of him, trying to get his attention, Diego looked right in Alex’s eyes and answered, “Mr. Pennycrumb.”

“WHAT!?” Alex shrieked back, Diego wincing at the high frequency, “YOU PICKED MR. PENNYCRUMB!? YOU PICKED THE DOG?!”

“Well yeah, he’s the only one of you that doesn’t talk back.” Diego explained, “And he’s a very simple dog with simple needs.”

Alex fixed him with a look that always scarily resembled Five and told him that, “You can’t pick Mr. Pennycrumb Uncle Diego, you  _ have _ to pick one of the kids. You gotta pick between Oliver, Freya, Nova, me, Reese, Cordelia, Violet, Tate, Liam, Ariadne, Jordan, or David.”

“Hmm,” Diego repeated, mimicking his pretended thinking position as before, “I  _ have _ to pick between you little gremlins?”

“Yep!” Alex chirped back.

“Well,” Diego started, “if I  _ have to _ pick between those choices, then I’d say, hmm. I’d say that my favorite, and you can’t tell anyone that I said this,” Diego paused long enough for Alex to make a zipper motion over her mouth before continuing, “is Miss Alex Parker Hargreeves.”

The second that Alex realized what, or who, he’d said, she practically jumped a foot in the air as she shrieked, more in general than directed at him, “Really! I’m your favorite?!” Diego managed to give her a small nod before Alex, somewhat expectedly, tore off through the rest of the house, yelling that “I’m Uncle Diego’s favorite!” as she did, over and over. 

That would go over well. With not only the other kids, but their  _ parents _ when they got back in……..a little more than three hours. Diego absolutely still blamed Klaus for all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2017
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 27  
> Oliver - 11  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 9  
> Reese, Cordelia - 8  
> Violet - 6  
> Tate, Liam - 4  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 2  
> David - 6 months


End file.
